Six years back we started with a noble idea of recognizing organizations who are applying Enterprise, Business & IT Architecture as a means of creating better and viable Enterprise.

In the last 5 years, iCMG Architecture Award Competition driven by independent jury has become a global benchmark of acceptance as the leading companies from USA, Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, South America have participated in this competition. The iCMG Award competition provides a neutral, peer-driven evaluation opportunity for some of the biggest names such as S&P Capital IQ and S&P Dow Jones Indices, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, BNP Paribas, ING, ABSA, The Hartford, EADS, Schneider Electric, Procter & Gamble, Intel, SAP, Cisco, British Telecommunications etc. We have also witnessed a growing participation from Govt. agencies from across the globe including USA, Canada, Switzerland, UK, South Africa, Australia, Singapore, UAE, etc. Some of the Govt. Agencies include Singapore Ministry of Defense, Westminster City Council UK, Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, Dutch Immigration Naturalisation Service (IND), Protestants Church Netherlands. Here, is the quick link to winners of Architecture Award competition.

Similarly on the lines of Architecture Award competition, we are happy to announce our new initiative related to Tools that forms an important backbone for leading Enterprises.

BPM Tool Evaluation will be first in this series. We are happy to announce the first edition of the community driven Global BPM Tool Evaluation.

The idea of this survey & review is to provide a platform for annual ranking that will provide a global benchmark for assessment and decision making by Enterprises. Also, this will help vendors to assess their tools in the context of market readiness & redefine product roadmap.

This new initiative which will combine the best of community participation, iCMG tool team combined with reviews by editors with first-hand experience with tools.

Value for Enterprise

Recently, I was discussing with a Chief Architect, who had just completed BPM Tool evaluation and finalized on two products. This was followed by prototype to be created by the two chosen teams to showcase actual working of the tool and its features to support Enterprise requirements. Isn’t it true for most Enterprises today? Go through the long RFP process, over a dozen vendor presentations, multiple prototypes before making a decision. The problem is every year thousands of Enterprises are going through this exercise. If you do some basic calculation, you will find that a company spends around $20,000 - $75,000 worth internal resources for BPM tool evaluation.

Is it possible to minimize this colossal waste of Enterprise costly resources yearly?

The answer is “yes”.

You can review and interact with people who have shared their feedback. Also, BPM Tool Editor will be creating a report that will provide necessary details for decision making.

Value for Tool Vendors

We do know that there are few services firms who do provide product charts highlighting strength and weakness. Unfortunately, most of those listings are “paid” listing with a bill running as high as $120,000. Good for getting an entry or some branding, but it creates the chasm, doesn’t establish “authenticity” of the product maturity with your buyers. That’s why each and every buyer is going through their internal evaluation process. In fact, never your sales cycle got shortened because you are listed in some quadrant. Rather, you will find evaluation team working extra hours on such products. This initiative will help you to see and compare differences, prioritize the changes and respond to customers need quickly. We are sure that your participation here will enhance your product competitiveness and market standing.

Value for reviewers (Community participation)

In the knowledge economy, “community participation” is one of the most effective ways to seek insight (including minor or major differences). In fact, most of us spend at least 5-8 hours every week discussing and challenging ideas with peers or experts. I have found this to be the single most sustainable way of growing one’s knowledge in real time.

Your participation in this review will clearly establish you as a practitioner against hundreds of preachers. IMHO, this is best opportunity to showcase your tool prowess to your peers in the industry. Of course, community contribution will go a long way in establishing you as a subject matter expert.

Your inputs will not only help organizations around the world to save their precarious resources, but also become nimble and agile. Your contributions will provide insight for the tool vendor to create future-ready products. Can you afford to miss such opportunity to define and shape future? All big thinkers and visionaries are invited.

BPM Tool Review – Criteria and scale

This BPM Tool Evaluation has nearly 28 rating criteria. Also, we have established a rating scale of 1 to 5 with the increment of 0.5 that will be used for assessment. We haven’t assigned different weights to rating criteria. In fact, users can see the reports or compare products by selecting a particular rating criterion. Here is the list of evaluation criteria:

Process modeling

Process modeling

Support for creating process diagrams

Generate target process from AS-IS diagram

Can we create target process from AS-IS?

Visual difference between AS-IS and Target

Visual difference

Process statistics

Such as number of message flow, roles, cost etc.

Process simulation

Does it support BPSim?

Business rules

Can we configure business rules?

Data modeling

Is it possible to do data modeling?

Process automation

Form design

Form creation based on process diagrams

Execution capabilities

Ability to support process execution

Real time monitoring

Real time monitoring of activities

Frameworks & Architecture support

Modeling strategy frameworks

Support for modeling frameworks such as BSC, Value stream

IT Architecture

Support for Network Models, Application Models, UI Models

Enterprise Architecture

Support for Zachman Framework, TOGAF etc.

Security

User Administration

Does it allow User set up and administration for multi user access at varying levels?

Lock Process Diagram

Support for locking a process diagram or part of diagram from editing

Portability

Desktop OS

Windows & Linux

Mobile OS

Android, iOS

Interoperability

Model import & export

XPDL support

Diagram sharing and live discussion

Share the diagrams with team members and review

Content publishing

Content publishing into HTML, Word, PDF

Scalability

Cloud deployment

Cloud based deployment & access

Web based modeling & editing

Does it support web based modeling & editing?

Manageability

Repository

Support for model repository

Version management

Support for version management of process models

Ease of use

Team collaboration

Real time editing, model sharing

Ease of use

Overall ease of use

Extensibility

Extending models

Ability to add new concepts and modeling notations

Vendor Support

Support

Rate the support from vendor

Top rated tool lists will take into account both the average rating and the number of reviews that a tool will receive for more accurate results. BPM Tool listings can also be ordered by rating for each rating criteria. So for example, you will be able to find top rated BPM Tools based on the support for “Simulation” alone, instead of by average of 28 plus parameters.

As a visitor, you will be able to vote on reviews and use the review search functionality to find reviews that match keywords.

We also have Editor Reviews that are made by our expert users and are shown, and averaged, separately from the registered user reviews.

What are the various tools being considered in this evaluation?

Here, is the list of BPM Tools that are included for review. We have used the Wikipedia BPM Tool listing as a starting point. In case you are aware of a BPM Tool which is not listed here, please share the product details and URL. We will be happy to include them in our evaluation.

Q. This is interesting, but I don’t want to add my reviews. What can I do?

Thanks for visiting the site; we have several great features for you. You can create your favorite list, easily compare multiple tools on the site or submit an enquiry to a Tool owner. You can share the link with your friends and colleagues who are working in this area.

Q. Who are the editors? Can I become an Editor?

Editor reviews allow our “experts” the ability to post reviews that are shown, and averaged, separately from the user reviews. In order to become an Editor, please write to Asel Zamirbekonna

Q. Can I include videos, photos, audio and attachments in my reviews?

Yes, you can add videos and photos (screen shots) to your reviews. Each media type is automatically recognized and videos and audio files are automatically converted to HTML5 compatible formats so they play in all browsers. You can import media files directly from other sites and automatically embed videos from the most popular video sharing sites.

Yes, you can search and find exactly what you need. Our advanced Search allows you to quickly find what you are looking for, including the ability to search BPM Tool listings by rating. You can use the default Advanced Search page where one can search listings by the defined search fields.

The Live Search feature improves the user experience by loading results in real time as you type in keywords or make selection from the Advanced Search Module.

As a Tool owner, you can claim “listing” ownership so that you can manage your own listing and update product description etc. This will also help you in receiving direct sales “enquiry” from visitors who are reviewing your product.

You can use the compare feature to see the values for the selected tools in an easy to visualize format.

Q. Can I display BPM Tool Evaluation in my site?

Yes, you can use iCMG Review widgets that will display the Review site content on your websites.

Q. Can I see my reviews in Architects Corner profile?

Yes, we have added “Reviews” as a new Cloud App (cloud-based application) in the Architects Corner. The first major use of “Reviews” will be for BPM Tool Evaluation. You can see all your reviews and ratings within your profile as well.

Suggestions for Review and Comments

Every tool has strength and weakness. Every tool has certain features that make them special and economically viable. So, try to be objective with your comments and ratings. Remember it doesn’t take long to realize the “bias” one has for a tool ;-). Please avoid the use of words or phrases which could hurt the sentiments of existing tool users. Let your experience working with tool be the only factor guide your conscious while sharing reviews.

So, identify key features, mention key areas that are helpful, and any experience with a vendor that was worth sharing. Please remember, your inputs can shape the future as vendors will translate your knowledge into action.

In fact, best and most popular Process Methodology (& frameworks) have collectively failed CEOs time and again as most process frameworks are devoid of insight to Enterprise Anatomy and its impact in handling change. We have found the use of Enterprise Architecture as a solid basis for business process improvement. It helps in creating necessary process primitives and underlying anatomy.

In this blog, I will focus on three key things. First, how to define a "business process", so that it's structure is understood in a consistent manner. Second, why it's important to understand link between business process with other enterprise assets such as strategy, systems? Third, why an Enterprise should focus on interdependency between "Business Process" across departments

In fact, when we were starting on CEO’s request for the increase in revenue, we had some idea how and where to start. We knew changes to be done to “Sales” process and possibly in the “Engineering” processes. There were chances of little changes in the “Marketing” department. Was that good enough? We never saw the need to evaluate impact on “Product/Service Delivery” processes, process related to “Technology Management”, HR processes...

In my professional journey, one common factor was the buzzwords around process improvement. The rampant and frenzied explosion of process methodology (over 300-400 methodology) and frameworks have not simplified the life of business leaders. I